Sri Lankan boxer blames positive test on vitamin B injection

November 10 - A lawyer representing Commonwealth Games gold medallist Manju Wanniarachchi has forced officials in New Delhi to postpone a second drugs test which could see the Sri Lankan boxer stripped of his title if it is positive.

Kalinga Indatissa managed to stop the analysis of Wanniarachchi's B-sample halted after the fighter alleged that he had been given a suspicious injection two months before the Games which he claimed could have been the reason he tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid nandrolone in the Indian capital.

Wanniarachchi has given a statement to police in Sri Lankan alleging that he had been given the injection by an Indian homeopathy medical practitioner, who had told him that it was a vitamin B supplement.

The homeopathy medical practitioner has reportedly admitted that he gave the drug to Wanniarachchi.

But Wanniarachchi has also reportedly blamed an asthma medication he was taking for the positive tst.

The testing of the B-sample is now due to take place in Delhi on Friday (November 12) where Wanniarachchi will be represented by a delegation including Indatissa and Hemantha Weerasinghe, the secretary of the Sri Lankan boxing federation.

If the B-sample confirms the result of the A-sample then Wanniarachchi will almost certainly be stripped of his gold medal, which would be awarded to Wales' Sean McGoldrick, who he beat in the final of the bantamweight division.

Wanniarachchi's performance had been widely celebrated in Sri Lanka as it was the country's first Commonwealth Games gold medal in boxing for 72 years.

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Duncan Mackay is the editor of insidethegames.biz. Awards include British Sports Writer of the Year in 2004, British News Story of the Year in 2004 and British Sports Internet Reporter of the Year in 2009. Mackay is one of Britain's best-connected journalists and during the 16 years he worked at The Guardian and The Observer he regularly broke a number of major exclusive stories, including the news that British sprinter Dwain Chambers had tested positive for banned performance enhancing drugs.

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